I love to travel, and I love to write about my travels.
After recovering from our Kilimanjaro trek, and spending a Swahili Christmas Day with our tour guide and his family, our next adventure was Ngorongoro crater. I had been on game drives before in southern Africa but this was Continue reading “Exploring Tanzania and Kenya”
I’m not really sure who’s bright idea it was originally, but for Christmas this year, Adam and Hussam (my travel partners to Ethiopia last year) and I decided that this year we would climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Luckily, Chris was able to get a week off and climb with us.
We arrived in Moshi, Tanzania, and went to our rooms at the local YMCA. We met with our tour guide later that day to get a few last minute items such as heavy coats and sleeping bags. Since we had been living in Khartoum, we didn’t actually own any of those items, so we rented them for the hike. We paid the rest of our money owed on our trip and we were ready to go!
We began our climb on Sunday, December 19th. The first day we started out at about 1800 meters above sea level, at the gates to the Kilimanjaro National Park. Below that level is cultivated land, and above 1800 m is a rainforest. Our first day’s walk, about 5 hours, was 9 km long and we rose about 900 meters to a height of 2700 meters. The weather was hot and humid and it rained a bit. The climb was not too bad and we were tired but not exhausted when we reached our first camp, Mandara camp. We had a snack of tea and popcorn, got our cabin ready, ate dinner, and went to sleep…. wondering what the next day would be like.
On Monday we hiked from Mandara camp to Homboro camp, another 9 or 10 km and another 900 meters up in altitude. Again, about 5 or 6 hours of hiking, although the altitude was noticeably thinner and breathing was more difficult. The rain forest behind us, we hiked through moorlands, with strange trees and little animal life. By the time we got to Homboro we all had headaches, were pretty tired, and glad of an acclimatization day the next day.
Day three we stayed at Homboro camp and took a short walk up to the Zebra Rocks, a strange rock formation made of naturally occuring black and white striped rocks. Our headaches were better but we were still dreading the following day as we were to climb to Kibo Camp.
Day four we climbed through the alpine desert to Kibo Camp, an altitude of 4700 meters. It took us maybe 4 or 5 hours, but we were all definitely suffering by the end of it. The weather was much colder, we had some rain and hail, although periodically the sun would come out and the fleece sweaters would come off. By the time we reached Kibo my head was killing me and my vision was blurry and seeing double. I could keep my head down and watch the trail in front of me but if I tried to raise my eyes I would see a bright corona around everything and it hurt like hell. I hoped a nap and some food would help me recover enough to attempt the summit at midnight.
Kibo camp was freezing cold (literally) and we slept a bit and ate some dinner- pasta- trying to carb up for the final ascent. After dinner we slept some more and were awoken at midnight. We were already wearing most of our clothes so we just put on our gloves and jackets and started off for the final 1200 meters up.
After 2 hours and having only made it 200 or 300 meters, I knew I couldn’t go on. I really wanted Adam and Hussam and Chris to be able to summit and I was holding them back with my slow pace. I thought I could maybe eke out another hour or two max, but I knew I’d never reach Gilman’s Point at 5700 meters or the top of Uhuru Peak at 5895 meters. So finally I decided to cut my losses and head back to Kibo. I convinced Chris that it was okay to go on without me, and I headed back down. I was sad that I couldn’t finish but frankly was in too much pain to really care that much. All I wanted was a bed and (more) headache medicine.
I sat at Kibo camp and watched the stars and the summit for a while. Finally it was too cold to stay out any longer so I went in and went to sleep in my bunk. Around noon, the guys returned, having successfully summited. They rested at Kibo for a couple of hours and then we returned down to Homboro camp for our final night on the mountain.
The last day we walked down the 20 km from Homboro to Mandara camp, to the park gate. Even going down was not exactly easy. Our knees and toes were screaming from the downward motion. But the breathing was much easier and our headaches were gone. At last we reached the bottom, 2 pm on Christmas Eve day. We celebrated with a Kilimanjaro beer, and the guys collected their certificates. We shuffled off back to our hotel, looking forward to a hot shower and a warm bed.
A great adventure! Did I fail at climbing Mt Kilimanjaro? I prefer instead to think of the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said: “To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.” .
This most recent vacation was really special to me, because it was the first vacation in a long time that Chris and I were able to actually fly to together! Although we often meet up with each other in a new city or country, it is rare that we are both flying from the same place. In fact, the last time we were on a flight together was three years ago when we flew to Sao Tome for Christmas! So it was really nice to be able to fly to Istanbul and then Athens together last week.
We had a long layover in Istanbul and discovered that transit passengers could go on a free day tour of Istanbul. The airline handled everything and we had a wonderful breakfast, tour, and lunch with a small group of 10, and then back to the airport. We flew on to Greece the same day and arrived in Athens in the early evening.
Super tired (our flight had left Khartoum at 3:30 am), we slept well and were ready to go see the Acropolis on Thursday. The huge outcropping of rock with the remains of the temples on it was amazing! It started to rain, but we really didn’t even mind, as we have spent these last long weeks in the hot dry desert, so the rain to us felt wonderful.
We spent the rest of the day and the next exploring Athens, looking for cozy tavernas to sit in and drink wine, ouzo, and beer while trying dishes such as souvlaki, moussaka, and of course lots of Greek salads.
Sadly, on Sunday Chris had to leave for work, so I headed up to Delphi to see the oracle and get any advice. Getting off the bus at the same time as me were two Americans that, it turned out, are teaching in Qatar. We found a hotel and did some sightseeing, and soon met another lonely traveler who was looking for adventure and had a car. We all agreed to stay in Delphi another day, eat lots of pork souvlaki, and then head to Meteora together.
On Tuesday we drove up to Meteora and explored the fabulous monasteries there atop the cliffs. The weather was wonderful and it felt great to be outside. The view from the monasteries was majestic, and that night we stayed in the beautiful Guesthouse Iridanos, where we had a fireplace in our room and a balcony overlooking the mountains. The owner recommended a restaurant in the town of Kalambaka, which was delicious.
I headed north next, to Thessaloniki, and spent two days there. Another day of rainy weather, but to me the cool fall weather was a welcome change and I was determined to relish it while I could. It was bacon for breakfast, pork souvlaki for lunch, and grilled pork chops for dinner, as all too soon it would be time to head back to Khartoum. In between stuffing myself, I found some Macedonian museums and Byzantine churches to explore as well.
After taking the night train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, I had two days in the East/West capital and revisited some of my favorite sights of that city. The Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern are wondrous and I will likely never get tired of them. I was looking for some of the hanging Turkish lanterns and trying to avoid the ubiquitous carpet sellers while I shopped my way through the Grand Bazaar. Sadly, the hour did arrive and I was on my way back to Sudan. Luckily, it’s a bit cooler now that it is November, and with the Caledonian Society ball and a retreat to the Nile River planned for the next two weekends, time should pass quickly and then Adam, Hussam, and I will be on our way to Mt. Kilimanjaro!
Although we’ve only been back at work a month, it’s time for a vacation- Ramadan is ending and we have off for Eid Al-Fitr. So my colleague Diane and I decided to head to Lebanon, just three hours away from Sudan by a BMI flight.
We arrived in Beirut and felt a bit discombobulated at first- the high rise apartments, the beach, the mountains, it was all so different from Khartoum. The first day I went to the mall and had Starbucks! and a movie! and bought two sundresses!! I know, I know, not what you’re supposed to do on a cultural vacation, but all things I couldn’t do in Sudan.
The next day I was ready to sightsee. First stop was a day trip to Sidon, home of a small crusader castle, the Musee du Savon, and a very cool souq. I spent a pleasant day in Sidon walking around and seeing the sights and learning about the Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Muslim, Crusader, Turk, and Mamluk history of Lebanon.
The next day I went on a day trip to Byblos (both Sidon and Byblos are one hour from the capital, so no reason to change hotels each time). Byblos is where the alphabet began- the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet was “aleph” and “beth”. A cute little fishing harbor, strongly reminiscent of Greece (not that I’ve been there yet), and a great museum dedicated to ancient fish fossils. I bought a fish fossil that is 80 million years old! And of course some Roman ruins and a crusader castle to explore. On the way back I rode up the mountain in a “teleferique“, basically a ski lift/cable car contraption that quickly gets you to the top of a mountain and lets you see amazing views and get some fresh air. If you click on the link I made, and wait a second, you’ll get a little animation that actually feels like you’re on the “terrorferique”!
On Friday we tried to go to the museum in Beirut but it was the start of Eid, so it was closed. Instead we hopped on a bus and cruised over the mountains almost to Syria, to visit the ancient Phoenician city of Baalbeck, dedicated to the Phoenician sun god Baal. Later the Romans built some of the last pagan temples (dedicated to Jupiter, Bacchus, etc) before the conversion to Christianity. Baalbeck is the most well preserved site of Roman ruins in the Middle East. We saw some great ornamentation and amazing architecture and thoroughly enjoyed our day there.
The next day we decided to pack a day bag and head up to the Cedars ski resort area for some cool air. Although it was only September, and no snow, the area is still great for cooler weather and the famed Cedars groves. We went through Tripoli, stopping only for some pastry and coffee, and then took a smaller bus to Bcharre, a small mountain village that hosts a great hostel (Tiger House) and also the Khalil Gibran museum (author of The Prophet, who was born in Bcharre). Along the way we met two British guys, Joe and Fraser, so we hung out with them for the rest of the day and visited the Cedars park and shopped for souvenirs, and found a bar to drink beer and smoke nargileh (hubbly-bubbly, hookah, whatever).
We should have just stayed in Bcharre another day, it was so beautiful, but Diana and I wanted to have lunch at Pepe’s fishing club in Byblos and go see the Jeita grotto, an amazing cavern. Lunch was awesome and the cavern- wow. The upper cavern is explored on foot while the lower cavern is explored by boat. Seriously, this place was great. There’s a contest to name it one of the 7 wonders of the natural world and they have my vote!
Another day trip the next day to the south, visiting Tyre and stopping briefly in Sidon again. Tyre is very close to the Israel border so lots of armed checkpoints, tanks, guns. But everyone very friendly (well, as long as you’re not Israeli). In Tyre is the largest remaining Roman hippodrome in the world. And of course that’s where my camera battery ran out! But luckily Diane’s was still going strong so she was able to capture the moment.
We ran into Joe and Fraser again and decided to go to Zahle the next day and spend the night and track down this Lebanese winery we had heard about. Zahle is a cute little town up in the mountains, halfway to Baalbeck, on the west side of the Bekaa valley. We found the winery, which includes caves going back to Roman times, which were expanded to tunnels during Muslim/Crusader times- altogether 2 km of tunnels, where they now keep the wine as it ages. We toured, we sampled, and then we walked through the town and collected a dinner of roast chicken, cheeses, and breads, and ate in the upstairs reception room of our 18th century mansion-turned-hotel. Along with our wine we had bought at the winery, our after-dinner conversation went on until midnight, complete with a spirited discussion of Israel, Palestine, and the Bible.
The next day Diane and I went to Aanjar, a Muslim Ummayyad capital city from the 700’s. The ruins were practically deserted, perfect for wandering around and taking pictures. That evening we returned to Beirut and went to Gemmayze Street, the area of the bars and nightclubs, for a final visit out on the town with our new friends. The next day, we finally visited the Beirut museum– one of the best in the world, not too overwhelming, and with a fabulous documentary about the ways the museum protected the artifacts during the Lebanese civil war- and then we all went to the mall to see one last movie, eat one last sushi dinner, and do any last minute shopping. And then suddenly it was time to return to Sudan.
Trying to get a vacation as well as a free trip back to work this year, I worked out a dope deal where I pieced together a flight to Spain, and then a flight from Morocco to Sudan, paid for by work, while I would travel in between on my own for a few weeks. Unfortunately I had to also work on a summer school graduate class, which resulted in me having to work on assignments each day and having to constantly look for wifi and electrical outlets, but I was able to have a fabulous vacation, finish my class, and get back to work in time for the school year to begin. Success!
Deah in Madrid
Madrid, SpainI started my trip in Cordoba, because I only had ten days and I wanted to see Andalucia more than I wanted to see the big cities like Madrid or Barcelona. After living in Sudan for a year, Continue reading “From Madrid to Casablanca: I visit Spain and Morocco on my way back to Sudan”
PalmTreeMusings 